A late-night show that lost much of its audience when it transitioned to a new channel has been canceled. Writing on Deadline.com, Nellie Andreeva reports that "Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell" got the ax.
The show moved in September of this year from cable channel FX to sibling network FXX. As we reported two weeks ago, much of the show’s audience appeared to vanish after the move.
"As I pointed out in my post ‘The Mystery of ‘Totally Biased’s Vanishing Audience’ two weeks ago, the show has had a very rough sledding in its transition from FX to FXX, drawing something like 12,000 total viewers, 4,000 adults 18-49, 3,000 adults 18-34 and 0 adults 18-24 at 11 p.m. on nights where FXX doesn’t have originals in prime time," Andreeva writes.
She adds: "While a dropoff in moving to FXX, which is carried in 26 million fewer homes than flagship FX, was expected, those public access program-level numbers were puzzling as ‘Totally Biased’ was a solid and pretty stable ratings performer on FX."
The show’s last original episode will air tonight, Thursday, the story says. After that, FXX will air repeats of the show for the rest of the week.
W. Kamau Bell
Fox screws up and the show gets the ax! Programmers should get the ax instead.MAybe it was too much for the right leaning Fox execs and they finally had a flimsy excuse to ax a show that didn’t star a “good negro”.
I wrote something similar to this a couple of weeks ago but basically FX moved it to a new network no one really knew about, it was immediately available in 26 million fewer homes than when it was on FX, and (at least on my Directv feed) this new channel was both sandwiched in with the Fox soccer channels at the 600-level, plus was now part of a higher-tier pay package that I would have to subscribe to if I wanted to watch it. How can FX (or Fox or FXX) be surprised that the ratings dropped? How?
I really really want to know how much of a ratings hit “Always Sunny” took after the switch, if only to compare.
What a stupid decision by FX, moving a truly innovative and entertaining show to an unknown sibling network. Sure way to guarantee failure. Shame on you FOX! Indeed, if you were real
programmers instead of empty suits (and heads), you’d bring it back where it belongs….and promote it.